Shaquille O’Neal Openly Blames NILs For ‘Killing the Game’

Shaquille O’Neal introduced Jamal Crawford on his recent episode of ‘The great podcast with Shaq’ to reflect on some of the moments of their NBA careers. Shaq and Crawford are veteran NBA legends with plenty of experience to provide insight into the current state of basketball. The duo discussed the problem in AAU basketball that prevents the younger generation from becoming tougher players.

The generation in which Shaq and Crawford played was considered one of the toughest in the NBA. Scoring was difficult and players had a genuine vision of proving themselves at the college level before entering the league. However, the duo realized that many children are pressured by their parents to level out their rankings and grades from the beginning.



This problem, as Shaq and Crawford discussed, was related to the fact that parents indirectly desired a luxurious lifestyle from their children’s success.

Shaquille O’Neal spoke about his son, Shareef O’Neal, who was also exposed to such expectations during high school. When Shareef was in fifth grade, a parent at his school told Shaq that his son was the number one student in fifth grade at the time.

However, Shaq was not willing to give in to such rankings and expectations. Recalling his response to the parents, Shaq said:

“I say, ‘Bro, it’s okay, so?’ I said, ‘No, you should let him be a child.’… What you should do is always encourage them.”

Shaquille O’Neal believed that although children should always strive to reach their full potential, parents, in return, should let their children flourish on their own. The Great Aristotle also believed that the NIL agreements had contributed to this parental mentality,

“These parents, these rankings, these ones that go viral and then these AAU coaches that got deals with these big programs. And you know, so it’s promising stuff. And then the murderer, the NIL.”

Shaquille O’Neal also advised his son on choosing NIL deals and helped remind him of his privilege over other players. Shareef is among the few players, like Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry, from basketball families with a lineage of professional players.

Shareef plays today on the NBA G-League Ignite team after going undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2022 NBA Summer League and played college basketball for four seasons with UCLA and then with LSU.

Shaquille O’Neal’s father advised him against turning pro in his second year

Shaquille O’Neal later spoke about his process coming into the league after playing in his college career. Shaq’s stepfather, Sergeant Phillip Harrison, had advised him not to turn pro after his sophomore year.

This was because Shaq was not yet mature enough to handle his affairs such as balancing checks and other accounts after turning professional. His parents were willing to spend another year broke rather than let Shaq enter the professional world before he acquired the necessary skills.

As a junior, Shaq took accounting classes and learned the basics of business before entering the league. He entered the 1992 draft after completing his junior year, now fully equipped with the basics to be a professional on the field. Perhaps that’s why Shaq developed incredible business acumen during his playing days, which turns out to be one of his greatest assets today.